Closure for flexible receptacles



Sept. 13, 1966 J O'FARRELL 3,272,248

CLOSURE FOR FLEXIBLE RECEPTACLES Filed May 4; 1965 1 24mm T. O'IQJEQELLINVEN OQ United States Patent 3,272,248 CLOSURE FOR FLEXIBLE RECEPTACLESFrank J. OFarrell, 10711 Whitburn, Culver City, Calif. Filed May 4,1965, Ser. No. 452,992 2 Claims. (Cl. 15010) The invention describedherein relates to improvements in containers and closures and moreparticularly to closures for small plastic bags.

Small coin purses have been available on the market for some timecomprising two sheets of superimposed flexible plastic materialoverlying each other and sealed all around the four sides. One of thesesheets has a transverse slit extending thereacross substantially fromside to side intermediate the top and bottom edges. This slit isnormally held substantially closed merely by the tendency of theresilient material to recover from a deformed open position and toreturn to its original flat condition. However, the material adjacentthe slit loses its ability to return to its flat state after the pursehas been opened and closed a few dozen times.

One object of the present invention is to provide a closure that willhave a longer memory and that will therefore return to its closedposition even after long use. This is accomplished by means of staysespecially constructed to lie flat, these stays being attached to, orembedded in, the material adjacent the opening in the bag or othercontainer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such stays soconstructed that they will not only have a strong tendency to lie flatbut also to flex more readily and easily toward one side of their normalflat plane than toward the other.

A further object is to provide a closure of the type described that willbe inexpensive to construct and yet durable.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objectswhich may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration ofdifferent embodiments thereof. For this purpose, two differentembodiments are illustrated in the drawings accompanying and formingpart of the present specification. These embodiments will now bedescribed in detail, illustrating the general principles of theinvention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description isnot to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention isbest defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of the container shown closed infull lines and flexed to an open position in broken lines, the openingbeing effected by squeezing opposite sides or edges of the containertogether.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a container with a stay of a typehereinafter described attached thereto adjacent its non-sealed topedges, and showing in broken lines the original configuration of thesheets before the top edges are turned down over the stays to form flapsthat may be heat sealed to the main body of the sheets of which they areindividually a part, this sealing being accomplished adjacent the edgesof the stays.

FIG. 3 shows the top portion of the container pictured in FIG. 2 afterthe flaps have been turned down and heat sealed in position around thestays.

FIG. 4 is a section taken substantially on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4a is a section on the same line on which section 44 is taken, asshown in FIG. 4, but illustrating how the stays may be sealed inposition by means of individual strips of plastic material rather thanby flaps that are an original integral part of each of the two sidepieces from Which the container is fabricated.

FIG. 5 is a view looking down at the top edges of the container, showingin full lines the two sheets of material lying against each other alongtheir unsealed edges, and indicating in broken lines the position of thesides when they are flexed outward from their normal flat plane in orderto open the container or receptacle.

FIG. 6 is a section taken substantially on line 66 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a view of one of the resilient stays showing the manner inwhich it is lightly scored on the side that is to adjoin the oppositesuperposed stay.

FIG. 8 is an illustration, similar to FIG. 7, but showing a stay that isconditioned for flexing more readily toward one side of its normal flatplane than toward the other by indentations aligned along one surface ofthe stay; and

FIG. 9 is a section taken substantially on line 9--9 of FIG. 8.

Bags embodying the present invention may be satisfactorily formed frompolyethylene sheets or sheets of similar plastic material, although anyflexible material may be used. Polyethylene, however, and other similarplastics, have the advantage of being readily heat sealed. As shown inthe figures, one embodiment of the invention comprises a pair ofsubstantially identical sheets 11 and 12 that may be of any convenientconfiguration, the illustrated form being rectangular. The two sheetsare superimposed and attached together along three of their adjoiningedges. If the material lends itself to heat sealing, the seal may bereadily effected around the edges, such sealing having the addedadvantage of being substantially air and water tight.

The manner of preparing the stays that hold the two sides of the bagclosely together at their adjacent unsealed edges is important to assurefairly tight closing. If the bag is made of suitable material, such asstainless steel or certain plastics that are resilient and quick toreturn to their original fabricated form, the ability to lie flat and toflex more readily in one direction than the other may be imparted to thematerial by slightly upsetting one of the surfaces, as by punching thesurface at spaced intervals as shown in FIG. 8 or by scoring or slightlydeforming the surface in substantially parallel lines as shown in FIG.7.

Stays that have been thus formed are attached or imbedded in thesuperposed sheets of material so that the strips themselves aresuperposed with their scored or indented sides facing each other asindicated in FIGS. 6 and 9. In FIG. 6 it will be observed that thescored sides of the strips 13 and 14 overlie the side pieces 11 and 12respectively of the bag. The surfaces of the stays bearing the scoring15, indicated by the small V-shaped configurations in FIG. 6, each facethe similar surface of the opposite stay.

FIG. 9, illustrating indented stays disposed with their indented sidesin opposition, shows indentations at 16.

Stays that have been conditioned for flexing in one direction in eitherof these ways, tend to bend in the direction of the surface with theinterruptions. Consequently when these surfaces face each other theywill tend to lie closely together if the two strips :are so mounted onor in the material that the scored or punched sides are held together attheir adjoining ends by rivets, fasteners, stitching, heat sealing orother equivalent means, or merely by confining them in juxtaposition.

Any method of attaching the stays to the opposite sides of the bagadjacent the sides or edges that are to form the opening, is of coursesatisfactory. The stays may be riveted, stapled, sewed or attached tothe sheets in any of numerous ways well known in the art. Heat sealing,however, is a very inexpensive and satisfactory manner of attaching themto plastic materials of the type hereinbefore described.

If the two sheets forming the opposite sides of the bag are eachprovided with a flap 18, as indicated in FIG. 2, such flap may be foldeddown over the stay and then sealed to the sides of the bag proper byheat sealing the flap to the bag along the sides of the stay, asindicated at 19 and 20, in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Individual strips of material similar or identical to that of which thebag is formed may he used for attaching the stays, as indicated in FIG.4a 'where parallel strips 22 and 23 are placed over the stays 13' and14' with enough of the strips extending beyond the edges of the stays topermit them to be heat sealed to the material of the bag around thestays in the manner indicated. Various modifications may of course bemade in the construction of the containers and in the manner-ofpreparing and mounting the stays without departing from the broad spiritof the invention as succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

Theinventor claims:

1. In a bag that is completely closed excepting for an elongated knobformed by superimposing adjacent edge portions of the material of thebag a pair of stays so positioned and attached to said material that itis superimposed over the stay along the edge of the month, each of saidstays so formed of resilient material that it is inherentlyspring-loaded to lie fiat, the surfaces of the stays that face eachother having relatively small pit-like indentations therein. I

2. In a bag that is completely closed excepting for an elongated knobformed by superimposing adjacent edge portions of the material of thebag a pair of stays so positioned and attached to said material that itis superimposed over the stay along the edge of the month, each of saidstays so formed of resilient material that it is inherentlyspring-loaded to lie flat, the surfaces of the stays that face eachother having groove-like scoring lines thereacross.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,008,314 7/1935Russell l50-42X JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner. FRANKLIN T.GARRETT, Examiner.

1. IN A BAG THAT IS COMPLETELY CLOSED EXCEPTING FOR AN ELONGATED KNOBFORMED BY SUPERIMPOSING ADJACENT EDGE PORTIONS OF THE MATERIAL OF THEBAG A PAIR OF STAYS SO POSITIONED AND ATTACHED TO SAID MATERIAL THAT ITIS SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE STAY ALONG THE EDGE OF THE MOUTH, EACH